Everyone be quiet, the Ri-Belle is speaking!

Friday, September 4, 2009

Today was Ri-Jerbal day (Labor Day) so we didn't have school and had a nice lazy morning cleaning the house and doing laundry. I bought some Marshallese laundry soap flakes and have been doing my laundry by hand in a bucket. After our lazy morning we went to a picnic with Laura Elementary School and Rita Elementary School. I guess you could say Rita Elementary is Laura's rival- they're on one side of Majuro Atoll and Laura is on the other. We had a great tug of war, some game involving chugging out of baby bottles and popping balloons, and a volleyball game...speaking of which, I'm going to join one of the community volleyball teams in Laura. They have huge community games every night and it's very cool! The Laura High School team is called the Tiger Sharks and practically the whole town comes out to watch. They use crappy little speakers to announce the games and it makes the games seem really intense.

Everyone here is AWESOME at volleyball in a very odd way- they haven't been trained in the proper techniques to hit the ball but they've all been pretty much playing since they were born so they have mastered being able to hit the ball in a controlled way with any part of their fist. Plus these tiny girls can jump and spike like crazy! The best part is seeing everyone play barefoot or in flip flops and in skirts! Basketball is also really popular here and we live right down the path from the basketball courts, so I've surprised a couple of the neighborhood boys with my snazzy basketball skills (although it's a little hard to show off by dribbling with the ball between your legs while wearing a skirt)... At the volleyball game yesterday Eric and I were talking to each other when we noticed a little girl in a yellow shirt yelling something angrily at all the people around us. When we questioned the missionary's daughter about what the girl was yelling, we found out that she was saying, "Be quiet! Don't talk! The Ri-Belles (Americans) are speaking!" Haha, I guess we've really drilled it into the kids here that you shouldn't speak when others are speaking.

Anyway, I diverge! The picnic today was great and the menu included Marshallese bbq chicken, pork ribs, fish, potato salad, breadfruit salad, bread with coconut sauce, banana lumpia, coconuts, coconut breadfruit balls, and cake! Breadfruit is kind of like a cross between a baked potato and pineapple, pretty delicious (enno!). Oh, and we had some stuff that tasted like pumpkin pie and was tied into little baggies. To eat it, you bite off the tip of the bag and suck it out...I can't remember what it's called. The way people eat during picnics is funny- after everyone has served themselves, everybody goes back to the food and loads up their styrafoam to-go plates to bring home food. It's quite the battle to get the most in your box.


School

Finished the second week! My classroom is *sort of* set up- unfortunately the supplies I mailed to myself still haven't come and there's not much at the school....plus the principal doesn't open my room until 8, when homeroom starts, and we have to lock up at 5, so there's not much time to put up decorations. Despite that I've managed to make my classroom look pretty- I have one bulletin board that says "reading can take you anywhere" (Sarah made it before she knew she didn't have a classroom) and I put up all my postcards from some of my travels- Berlin, other places in Europe, and from my trip to Belize and Guatemala with Stevie and Brandon. I also put up some posters of the Marshall Islands on the same bulletin board-- think about it, reading took me to the marshall islands! If my dad hadn't spent those countless hours reading things like Lord of the Rings and Little House on the Prairie, I probably wouldn't have become such an avid reader and wouldn't have ended up at Dartmouth and then I probably wouldn't have ended up on the Marshall Islands. THUS, reading really can take you anywhere! Now, what else can I do besides making a pretty bulletin board in order to convey that to my students?!
I also made a bulletin board with my Groundation and Bob Marley posters (one musician the students actually know) because I really want to use my time here to turn my students onto GOOD music- something that I deeply believe is a key ingredient in life (although I'll acknowledge that 'good' is quite a relative term when it comes to something like music). This week I did an activity with Blackbird by The Beatles and couldn't believe that NONE of my students had ever heard of the Beatles. When I ask them what kind of music they like the answers I get are Akon, Taylor Swift and 50 Cent.

I also put up one of my favorite quotes from Margaret Mead: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." My classes all made class contracts, so I have a posterboard with the rules up. (I will respect everyone, I will raise my hand, I will come to class prepared, I will take my shoes off before entering class...you know the drill). Oh yeah, did I mention that I get to teach barefoot?! Luckily my students LOVE to sweep. During lunch students from the elementary school come into my classroom and sweep the class for fun. The other day I watched two little boys in their orange Laura Elementary School t-shirts, one outside and one inside the room, as they rubbed and smacked their hands on my window in a rhythm. I should have told them not to make my windows dirty but their game looked fun and I don't think I'm the type of teacher (or person) to let fear of a little grime spoil a lot of fun. One little boy picked up a broom and began to sweep a corner of the room. When I smiled at him, he shyly smiled back. Every morning in homeroom my 10B students ask me, "Miss Heather, can we mop today?" Unfortunately, their fondness of cleaning means that I can't make my students come clean my house as a punishment!

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Another one of my first week activities was about fear at school and things that they are afraid of, to get the kids talking about why they are all so afraid to talk in class. It's funny- they are horrified to speak aloud in class most of the time but when i asked if they wanted to sing Blackbird once we had done the activity, they ALL sung. i guess they have grown up singing in church so they're more used to it, but in American schools ask a kid to sing and they would never! It's hard to tell how much of what i say the students actually understand but here are some exceprts from the 11A journals that definitely show they understood the fear activity:

Journal Question: Yesterday we talked about fear and things students and teachers are afraid of at school. Please discuss what you learned yesterday using 7-8 sentences. Include your thoughts on how the activity could be improved.

"Yesterday it was a great day to me in class. Because we get to group together and tell everyone about the thing we afraid of in general and also in school. I think this could be improved when we believed in our-self. Like standing in front of many student and discuss or talk to them. When we show ourself and forget everything and be with other student and have fun with them. It would be improved when we belived in ourself and not to be shy.
"we should trust ourself and be brave. And students should tell other student to be brave."

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Another fun activity: I used this funny little poem my Dad taught me years ago with my class on Thursday. I posted the phrase in small letters on the chalkboard and put the students into pairs. One student was the writer and had to stay in their seat while the other student ran up to the board and read the poem, then reported as much as they could remember to the writer. The first team to show me that they had written the phrase correctly won. This kind of activity helps them practice their speaking and dictation skills and it was really fun!

Early one morning, late at night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Pulled out swords and shot each other
The deaf policeman heard the noise
Came and killed those two dead boys.

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Before class on Thursday one student came up to me and said proudly, "Miss Heather, I know what is your favorite colors!"
So I said, "Oh really, what are they?"
Beaming, she says "Purple, pink, and blue!"
"Wow, how did you know that?" I asked her.
"Because every day you wear purple, pink, or blue!" she said, skipping back to her desk. This gives you a sense of how much the kids here are constantly watching and really look up to us!

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I gave my students a survey in the first week to learn more about them and to gauge their English abilities. One of the questions was "If you could meet any person, dead or alive, who would you meet and why?" Hilariously, many of them gave answers like this one:
"I meet alive person because then he alive and we speak together."
Or this one: "If I see almost dead person, I call a doctor and give them a advil."

Some of them understood the question and several wanted to meet Michael Jackson because he is the "king of rock" and "got cool smooth moves". Ohers wanted to meet Akon and Taylor Swift, two of the most popular artists here in the RMI..haha!
One question asked them to talk about a favorite teacher they've had before and why they were their favorite. Of course I got answers like: "Miss Heather cuz she very beautiful" and "Miss Heather because she work hard".
The last question asked them to tell me about anything I didn't ask in the survey and one student answered, "Next year I come to Alaska and find you". Haha, not really sure where he got that...maybe he confused California with Alaska.


Food

The delicious meals you can make from canned items is truly amazing! We actually had mexican night at our house last night and made a yummy 7 layer dip. I've also been putting peanut butter and siratcha sauce on everything...so obviously still not too far removed from college, as Stevie said when I told him this.


Other fun facts before I go:

-I learned yesterday that there is no phrase for "nice to meet you" in Marshallese since when the language was created, everyone already knew each other!!

-Tonight it's a full moon so the tide is at it's lowest and we're meeting up to go on a moonlight reef walk at midnight to Ejit, the island off the edge of rita that you have to cross the reef to get to. Ejit: population 300 and 1/3 of those are children!

-We have to go home from town on Saturdays because there are no buses that run on Sundays...last Sunday we learned the hard way and had to hitchhike home- we ended up getting a ride in the back of the Minister of Finance's truck!

-We bought a sheet of plywood at Ace today to make a pong table!! I plan on painting a beautiful island scene on it and my dad and Stevie are sending paddles! Since we're living in the big house there is plenty of room (and privacy) to play, woo!

-I am going over to Anna's now to pick up the package that came for me from PANARCHY!!!! She said it feels very rattly and I am SO EXCITED to pick it up. I love you guys!!

-Random, but I was just thinking the other day as I stepped on a crunchy palm tree leaf, that maybe a lack of deciduous trees gives places a more laid back feel, like Humboldt with its redwoods and the Marshall Islands with palm trees. Trees that shed their leaves have a tendency to remind you that time is passing and puts you in a hurry. This thought reminds me that time is passing and it's time for me to head on the bus back to Laura and finish up my lesson planning for next week, especially since our principal, Mr. Stanley, will be observing some of our classes. Bar lo iok (see you later)!

Peace, Love, Unity

~Heather